NASCAR continues its two-race western swing, heading to yet another style of racing.
After a restrictor-plate race at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway and a run at the one-mile Phoenix International Raceway, both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series hit the fast 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is coming off two consecutive record-breaking races. The most recent, at Phoenix, featured a track-best 28 lead changes. This Sunday, the schedule shifts to Vegas for the Kobalt Tools 400.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series saw some history – again – at Phoenix, as race-winner Kyle Busch led all 200 laps. Busch, a Las Vegas native, will try for career win No. 45 this Saturday at the Sam’s Town 300.
A number of storylines heading into this weekend’s action …
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
Gordon Chases More History
Ending a 66-race winless drought, Jeff Gordon’s Phoenix victory on Sunday also made it career win No. 83 – tying Cale Yarborough for fifth on the all-time list.
On deck in the record books: Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, at 84 wins. If Gordon does win this weekend, it would be the first time since October 2007 that he won consecutive races (Talladega and Charlotte).
Can another jackpot be in the cards? It sure seems that way: Gordon ranks first in pre-race Driver Rating with a 117.0. Last year, Gordon dominated much of the race, leading 219 laps only to finish third.
Family Reunion Atop Standings
The Busch brothers – Kyle and Kurt – enjoy the first and second spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings heading into their hometown race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle holds a three-point advantage over older sibling Kurt.
It’s the first time family members have sat 1-2 in standings since father-son duo Bobby and Davey Allison did it after the season-opening Daytona 500 in 1988. Since 1975, when the position-based points system went into effect, no brothers have been 1-2 in the standings.
Kyle won the 2009 Las Vegas race; Kurt’s best finish at Vegas was third in 2005.
Return To Normalcy For Johnson
He didn’t win, but five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson landed back in the top five. It was the most recent example of a developing trend: Johnson shrugs off a tough Daytona 500 finish with a top five in race No. 2.
Johnson’s last five Daytona 500 finishes: 39th (2007); 27th (2008), 31st (2009), 35th (2010), 27th (2011).
Johnson’s last five finishes in the season’s second race: 3rd (2007), 2nd (2008), 9th (2009), 1st (2010), 3 rd (2011).
Expect more the same. Johnson has four wins at Las Vegas, more than any other driver.
Return To Glory For Iconic No. 43
AJ Allmendinger has opened the season with finishes of 11th (Daytona) and ninth (Phoenix). The resulting points position: 4th.
That put the iconic Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 back near the top of the points standings for the first time in more than two decades.
The last time the No. 43 car was this high in the standings was after Martinsville on April 26, 1987. The driver: Richard Petty.
Weekend Marks 50th Anniversary of Wendell Scott’s First Start
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Wendell Scott’s first start -- March 4, 1961 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Spartanburg, S.C. -- every car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series will display a decal with Scott’s photo this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Scott, the first African-American to win a premier series race, ran 495 career races in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Labonte Stays In Top 10
Bobby Labonte, 2000 series champion, sits in the top 10 in points for the second consecutive race, the first time he has done that since August, 2004.
Labonte will be on the NASCAR national video teleconference this week, Tuesday, March 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES
Martin Won’t Let Record Go Quietly
Kyle Busch playing second fiddle in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at his hometown track?
Pardon the pun, but you might bet on it this weekend in Vegas.
Busch, a Las Vegas native and the 2009 series champion, did win his second consecutive spring race at Phoenix last Saturday, the 44th victory in his 204-race career. He’s now four wins from tying Mark Martin’s all-time series record of 48.
But therein lies the rub.
Martin’s last NASCAR Nationwide Series win came at LVMS in 2008. And his last series win before that? Vegas in 2005. He’s tied with Jeff Burton for the most series wins there with three. In his two other series starts at LVMS, Martin placed sixth and second. And guess who’s entered in a series race for the first time since he ran one event in 2009?
Martin will run four races this year for Turner Motorsports in the No. 32 Dollar General Chevrolet. Saturday’s race at LVMS is the first of those four. (Reed Sorenson, who will drive the bulk of the season in the No. 32, will be in the No. 30 Chevrolet at LVMS).
Surprisingly, Busch has yet to win in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition at Las Vegas, and has only one top-five finish in seven series starts at the 1.5-mile track.
Veterans Rebound
Joe Nemechek, Mike Bliss and Kenny Wallace have 1,035 starts, 27 wins and two NASCAR national series championships between them.
One other tie binds them. They’re all ranked in the top 10 of the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver standings heading to Las Vegas.
Nemechek, the 1992 series champion and 2003 winner at Las Vegas, is fifth in the standings, driving for his own NEMCO Motorsports team. He has posted 15th-place finishes at Daytona and Phoenix. Bliss, the 2002 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, is ranked seventh as the lead driver for the three-car Tri-Star Motorsports organization. And on the heels of his move this year to RAB Racing, Wallace stands ninth after his 10th-place result at Phoenix. That’s his best finish since last August at Iowa. When Wallace starts at Las Vegas, he’ll be 10 away from becoming second driver to reach 500 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts.
Overall, the top 10 in the driver standings are separated by just 28 points. On the owner standings side, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota leads the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet by one point. The top 10 teams also are separated by only 28 points.
Stenhouse Stays Strong
Reed Sorenson’s two top-five finishes to start the season have him atop the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings for the second consecutive week. He has a five-point advantage over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. which, along with Danica Patrick’s fourth-place standing, may be one of the biggest surprises of the early going.
Many thought Stenhouse was performing his way out of the series during the first quarter of the 2010 season before rebounding to earn Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. But his two top-10 finishes out of the gate suggest he’s still navigating the first full-season waters of the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ new car just as he did during its race debuts last year.
In the first four races for the new car, Stenhouse was immediately comfortable. He posted an average finish of 8.5, including his career-best finish of third at Daytona last July in its debut race. His average finish thus far is 7.5. Sorenson is no slouch in the new car either. His average finish in the four races last year was 10.5; this year he’s improved significantly with an average finish of 5.0
Stenhouse is looking to duplicate the feat of his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Greg Biffle, who was the last NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year to win series championship the following season. “The Biff” won the rookie honor in 2001 then captured the series championship in 2002.
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
Crafton Assumes Top Spot
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series embarks on its first open weekend of the 2011 season before returning to action next weekend at Darlington Raceway for the Too Tough To Tame 200.
Pre-season media favorite and series veteran Matt Crafton finds himself atop the series standings for the first time since 2009 – June 13, 2009 to be exact – following the first two races of the season.
Crafton, who has competed in the series full time since 2001, has finished in the top five in the series standings four times, including a runner-up finish in 2009.
His ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter sits fourth in the standings, only four points out of the lead.
Crafton and Sauter both finished in the top-five in the series standings in 2010.
Rookies Continue to Turn Heads in NCWTS Garage
Two races into the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season and the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders are looking like serious threats.
California native Cole Whitt scored his first career top-10 finish and top rookie honors at Phoenix International Raceway this past weekend in only his third career start. Whitt currently leads the rookie standings by three points over Miguel Paludo.
Las Vegas native Justin Johnson had never entered a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event before the second race of the season, but he did not waste any time making a name for himself and his Vision Aviation Racing team.
Johnson – a graduate of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West – finished eighth in his first career NASCAR national series start.
Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders Cole Whitt, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Miguel Paludo currently hold positions within the top 10 in the series standings. (Provided by NASCAR MEDIA)
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